Alumnus Howard Snyder Shares Vision for Creation Care in New Book

Published: October 23, 2025

Author: Lydia Cahill

Howard Snyder (’62) recently published the next book in his prestigious authorship: Consider the Lilies: How Jesus Saves People and the Land. However, this is not a typical theological book.

Snyder combines three unique elements in his latest release: openly asking key questions about Jesus, discussing Christian engagement with various areas of culture, and focusing on believers' relationship with the land.

Asking and Answering God-Sized Questions

Snyder’s book uses a unique approach to consider Jesus’ teachings: through key questions that define Christians’ relationship with Christ.

“There are twelve chapters, each one is based on a Jesus question. Who is Jesus? Where will following Jesus finally lead? That gets into ultimate questions.”

The goal of these questions is to offer answers to many of Christian’s biggest questions, questions that—now more than ever—need to be firmly rooted in the truth that is Jesus.

“I try to take very seriously throughout what Jesus actually said, and then in all of those things, I'm very much concerned with the ‘So What?’ question: What about us? Our lives in the world, our lives with one another, in the church, our use of resources, the whole thing.”

Christ in Culture

Asking big questions about God shapes our relationship with him, but we must also learn to apply what we have learned on our faith journey to our everyday lives. Culture is a massive part of our everyday lives, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the social expectations and standards we uphold.

It is because we engage in culture every day that Snyder chooses to broach this topic in Consider the Lilies. Our lives are more than Sunday worship—Snyder's book demonstrates the importance of engaging with all aspects of our culture in ways that honor God.

"Most theology books don't talk much about general culture. I thought, how can we talk about theology and discipleship without talking about the things that have consumed so much of our time? So much of our agenda day by day is determined by our embeddedness in culture. If we don't know what's going on, we become pulled by every wind of doctrine without realizing.”

A Covenant Before Abraham—God and the Land

Snyder’s theology also emphasizes the importance of honoring and using the land God has given us in a way that pleases him. The main point of Snyder's book is reflected in his title (Consider the Lilies), but what does it truly mean to see the land as a gift God has given to us? Snyder points out that God’s relationship with the earth predates that of the covenant with Abraham.

“God's covenant with the land in Genesis 9 is strategic, and it is generally not dealt with in theology. You pick up an average book on theology and the covenant; it starts with Abraham. But the Bible doesn't start with Abraham. It starts with creation and then God's covenant with the earth after the flood.”

Snyder explains that even though not everyone is a farmer, arborist, or biologist, we each rely on and interact with the land every day.

"I try to show all through the book, whatever we're talking about, it has something to do with our interdependence with the land, whether that's food or how we interact with trees. The whole thing, air, the nature of our physical body."

Consider the Lilies: they reflect that not only do we pass by nature every day, but we also consume it in the food we eat. According to Snyder, how we handle and process the food the earth provides us has a significant impact on our bodies and the land from which we harvest.

“We interact with the created order, with the environment every day in one way or another, from beginning to end. It's in the food we eat, in how we handle the food, in how we package it, and in what we allow into our bodies. The resources of the earth are limited, and we are to be good stewards of them for the benefit of others.”

Snyder masterfully reveals that we all have a deep connection to the land. However, what does this connection mean for our faith?

“The question always comes up, how does our faith in Christ affect the land? What's the inner relationship? Land here means not only physical land, but it also just means generally our interdependence with the created order.”

“The reason for the prioritizing of creation care, not as something separate, but as a part of our life and lifestyle, is that it is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the desire to be faithful and follow Jesus, we benefit. Similarly, we benefit if we take care of the earth and the

earth takes care of us. I'm glad for the degree to which that was taken seriously at Greenville.”

Greenville Days: A Place of Growth and Beginnings

Snyder is now the author or co-author of 25 books. However, much of his love for writing and Christian authorship was developed while he was attending Greenville College (now university). He was heavily involved in literary studies in college, graduating with a dual major in language arts and education and a minor in Spanish.

While attending university, Snyder took advantage of an opportunity to write and edit for the college's publication, the Papyrus.

“My senior year, I roomed with Dale Martin, who was a year younger. He was the editor of the Papyrus. I'd been editor of the year before for one semester.”

Snyder also notes that the quality of the education he received at Greenville University shaped him for the rest of his life.

“I had excellent teachers, especially in the liberal arts. Harriet Whiteman was outstanding. Alba McAllister was one of the real greats of English literature. I had a

Spanish minor, so I had Mrs. Sanders for that; she was good. She had great patience with me.”

“I think the quality of the professors, the seriousness of their scholarship, their intelligence, and their ability to communicate, and on top of that, the whole ethos of the college, the Christian atmosphere, the balance between freedom to explore raise and questions but also where to go to find the answers and encouragement in that regard made it so good.”

Continued Legacy

What is the ultimate goal of Snyder's work? His book is not just for biblical scholars and theologians, but also for the everyday Christian seeking to enrich their relationship with Christ and with the earth he has given us.

“It's primarily to help everyday Christians like you and me know how to live, follow Jesus. That's a theme throughout the book, walking in Jesus' place. Follow Jesus and then be consistent in that in every area of our lives. How do we live our lives from when we get up in the morning to when we go to bed at night?”

Snyder also has a key insight into life that he hopes current GU students will take to heart.

“Seek to follow Jesus and use scripture as the guidebook, but also engage within Christian community so that you don't go off on some tangent. Avoid living in a religious bubble or a religious tunnel.

Instead, think about how faith does, should, and can apply to every area of our lives, which means we become witnesses for Christ across the board. It’s great to be a witness for Christ as our personal Savior regarding a particular issue or problem.

It's even better to be able to apply the gospel to every area of our lives with a Christian reason for it. God has placed us in the world to continue the work Jesus began. To do that, we have to understand what the story is, and what the resources are.”

Consider the Lilies is not just another book—it’s a call to rediscover how faith shapes our care for God’s creation. Snyder’s lifelong connection to Greenville University helped launch a ministry of words that continues to inspire readers and future students alike.